Archive for ‘Migrants and Refugees’

5 November 2018 — One year since the Saudi-led Coalition imposed a blockade on sea, land and air routes in Yemen, millions more are edging closer to famine and fatal disease.

A girl stands inside the Al Habbari informal settlement for displaced people in Sana’a. The settlement is on private land and receives a very small amount of support from its owner. Families living here lack basic services such as showers and latrines. Photo: Becky Bakr Abdulla/NRC, 30 August 2018

“The past 12 months have been a never-ending nightmare for Yemeni civilians. The parties to the conflict have consistently disavowed the laws of war and employed tactics that exacerbate suffering for civilian populations,” said Jan Egeland, Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).

18 November 2018 (Wall Street International)* – In January 1984, Dr. Seuss, one of the most popular authors of children’s books ever, who sold hundreds of millions of copies of his books, published The Butter Battle Book. It was a totally unexpected book from a children’s author―an overt political satire and protest against the nuclear arms race. Dr. Seuss considered it his best book, but one that ends pessimistically unlike most of his others.

19 November 2018 (FAO)* — Biodiversity may sound complicated, but it’s a fairly simple concept: the existence of many different types of plants and animals makes the world a healthier and more productive place. A mix of genetics, species and habitats allows Earth’s ecosystems to keep up with challenges like population growth and climate change. Biodiversity is important to us because it plays a crucial role in food and nutrition security, and subsequently in human health.

About three-quarters of the genetic diversity once found in agricultural crops has been lost over the last century. Preserving our agricultural biodiversity is vital for coping with a changing climate and securing our future of food. | Photo from FAO.

By Eline Anker*

18 November 2018 (Norwegian Refugee Council)* — Did you know that more people have a mobile phone than a toilet? Marking world toilet day, we give you five reasons why you should care about toilets.

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In crowded camps it is essential that people have proper sanitation facilities and good hygiene practices in order to prevent diseases. In order to address the needs, NRC is conducting the following activities in Mtendeli refugee camp in Tanzania: • Constructing family latrines • Providing basic hygiene items, such as soap • Conducting hygiene promotions on good hygiene practices • Providing drinking taps and latrines in schools Photo: Ingrid Prestetun/NRC

Almost 30 percent of the world do not have access to latrines. The lack of access deprives people of a good health, safety and dignity.

18 November 2018 (teleSUR)* – Amongst the hundred of Central American Migrants denied passage to the United States, and currently stranded at the border border in Mexico, some are taking offers for work by their host government.

“If we had work, we would stay. This has been very tiring,” Orbelina Orellana told Reuters.

16 November 2018 (UNHCR)* – The city of Boa Vista in northern Brazil, near the border with Venezuela, was different from what 18-year-old Jefferson* expected after leaving his home country due to the lack of food and job opportunities.

Since 2015, 2.3 million people have left Venezuela. Over 150,000 Venezuelans have entered Brazil through the remote northern state of Roraima, and more than 65,000 requested asylum thus far.

The women of South Sudan are leading calls for political and militia leaders to honour the recent revitalized peace agreement, and end what they regard as a “futile man’s war”, the head of the UN gender equality agency, UN Women, told the Security Council on 16 November 2018.

UNMISS/Isaac Billy | A high-level delegation from the United Nations and African Union meets Nyamile Malual Jiech (far right) who walked with her children through violent clashes to reach the safety of the United Nations protection site in Bentiu in the north of South Sudan.

Executive Director, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, told the 15-member Council that following September’s agreement between President Salva Kiir and his rival Riek Machar, who is due to be reinstated as Vice President, fighting was continuing.

Brexit – the United Kingdom’s impending exit from the European Union – will drive more UK citizens into poverty unless the Government takes action to shield the most vulnerable, warned Philip Alston, the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, in a damning statement released on Friday [16 November 2018].*

The UN envoy’s comments came at the end of a 12-day visit to the UK, which saw him travel to nine cities across the country, meeting members of civil society, front line workers, and officials from a range of political parties in local, devolved and UK Governments.

Amidst an ongoing active conflict that seems to have fallen off the international community’s radar, temperatures in eastern Ukraine dropping well below zero and leaving millions are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance, said the United Nations, calling for support.

OCHA Ukraine/O.Gaskevych | People wait in line at Maiorske Entry/Exit Checkpoint in eastern Ukraine

In Geneva on Thursday [15 November 2018], Osnat Lubrani, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Ukraine, briefed UN Member States on the human cost and consequences of the severe humanitarian crisis and called on international donors to urgently increase funding to help vulnerable families through the long harsh winter.

15 November 2018 (openDemocracy)* — The current war in Afghanistan has just entered its nineteenth year. Almost two decades after the United States-led invasion overthrew the Taliban regime in Kabul and dispersed Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network from mountainous Tora Bora in the country’s south-east, a reconfigured Taliban is once more driving the conflict.